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Our Opinion

The Asus Zenfone 5Z (8GB RAM, 256GB) is a significantly better phone than the Vivo NEX, and is also significantly better value for money. What should you buy? Go for the Asus Zenfone 5Z (8GB RAM, 256GB)!

Beautiful, elegant, glass & metal design, with a 'notch' screen - quite similar to the iPhone X - and arguably the most beautifully designed phone in this price bracket

The power button and the volume rocker on the right have just the right amount of tactile give, and also the mid-frame has a smooth matte finish that ups both the premium quotient as well as the in-hand feel - the ZenFone 5Z feels like an expensive phone that isn't expensive at all

Build quality is rock solid too - the phone has considerable heft but not unbearably so - you'll feel the phone in your hands but you won't find it taking the better of you - it's just the right proportion

It's very pocketable too - boasting of an impressive screen-to-body ratio of 90 per cent - the phone is almost border-less, barring a notch up-top and a chin portion at the bottom

The tall, modern, 19:9 display is absolutely gorgeous - it can get really bright and produces rich and vibrant colours that look pleasing to the eyes - it has great viewing angles as well - again, this is arguably the best display in this price bracket, even better than the OnePlus 6, especially in terms of colour accuracy

Asus's ZenUI is a huge improvement over its previous, bloated versions - it's now much lighter and smoother, and adds tons of useful AI frameworks to make the core Android experience much better - the cameras use AI for scene detection and better shots, the battery uses AI to optimize charging, the processor uses AI to boost specific apps/games, and the display uses AI to remain on when you are looking at it!

Asus also makes probably the best use of the 'bunny ears' on the sides of the notch of any Android phone so far - the implementation is well thought-out - the bunny ears in the case of the ZenFone 5Z are interactive - they don't bombard you with icons and notifications - instead, everything is neatly arranged and there's even a tap to view more option - tapping on either side of the notch takes you to a small sub-head that gives you an expanded view of all the incoming notifications, without having you to pull them down all the way through - it's these little details in the software that really add to the experience of using the Zenfone 5Z

The hardware on the Zenfone 5Z is as top-end as it gets - it is the cheapest phone in India right now with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor under the hood - in short, it will fly through anything you throw at it - and will be as fast as other flagships (OnePlus, Galaxy S9 etc)

Excellent dual camera system at the rear - arguably the best at this price point, and not too much behind the best of the best like the Pixel 2 - photos clicked with it in good lighting come out well, with lots of detail and colours which are mostly true to source - dynamic range is also spot-on - the ZenFone 5Z is also capable of taking some good shots in tricky and low light conditions - the phone also comes with an in-built night mode that ups the detail (even further) and leads to brighter photos at the cost of resolution (4-megapixel)

Thanks to the 4-axis OIS, shake is minimal (or altogether absent) in videos and the 4K clips shot with the phone also look fantastic - the phone further comes with a 3 mic system that results in fairly crisp audio recording as well

The secondary 8-megapixel wide-angle sensor on the rear performs its job really well too - it gives you both a pretty amazing portrait mode, and a wide-angle shot option

The phone's front 8MP shooter is decent too (though not exceptional like the rear camera setup) - it takes some good selfies in good light

The stereo speakers can get really loud, and the phone also supports High-Resolution audio via compatible wired and wireless headphones

Excellent battery life - the 3300mAh battery inside the ZenFone 5Z lasts significantly longer than the similarly sized battery inside the OnePlus 6 - you will comfortably get a day of use and then some

It even charges as fast as OnePlus' excellent Dash charger - you can top it off in some one hour fifteen minutes using the bundled 18W Qualcomm Quick Charger 3.0 charger

On the whole, the Asus ZenFone 5Z looks better, has arguably slightly better cameras, has better battery life, and is as fast as the excellent OnePlus 6 (while the OnePlus 6 scores in terms of better software and water resistance) - everything considered, it is the first (and only) phone in the market right now that should make OnePlus nervous, and will give it some very tough competition

The Vivo Nex is absolutely gorgeous, and easily one of the most beautiful smartphone ever released - there is the premium blend of glass and metal, the grey speckled pattern on the back, the top-notch build quality, and the solid hand-feel, but the highlight of the phone is the stunning display in a futuristic bezel-free design

The power and volume buttons on the right edge are ergonomically placed. On the left is an 'AI' button, which can be be pressed once to invoke Google Lens, or long-pressed to call on Google Assistant

The 6.59-inch Super AMOLED, 19.3:9 display is the star of the show here - with a screen-to-body ratio of 93 percent, it dominates the front of the smartphone and looks striking - a no-notch tall screen is an unparalleled experience - and the viewing angles are superb, colours are vivid, and blacks are inky and deep - the maximum brightness is impressive, and the display also gets dim enough for comfortable use in a dark room - there is a nifty night mode that that can be triggered at set times - Vivo has moved the ambient light sensor to below the display and it works well enough

Vivo's Funtouch OS has taken a lot of inspiration from iOS, and is packed with features and gestures to the hilt

Performance is top-notch as expected - with the Snapdragon 845 under the hood, the Vivo Nex handles everything you throw at it with ease, and with 8GB of RAM, it keeps most apps running in the background, even those left unused for a full day - gaming on the phone is also quite a pleasurable experience, due to the combination of the gorgeous screen and the top-end hardware

The dual camera setup on the rear is pretty good, and clicks some impressive photos - the level of detail is very good, colours are rich and vibrant, and the autofocus is precise and accurate - there is also little to no shutter lag, and the dynamic range is good - thanks to the four-axis OIS, images taken at night also come out sharp and detailed

As with most flagships these days, the rear camera can recognise objects or scenes being shot and optimise its settings accordingly

The portrait mode is decent too (but not the best)

AR stickers are implemented well too and are a good way to impress friends - they can be used with both the front and the rear camera

There is a fully featured professional mode in the camera application as well which allows you to alter the ISO, exposure, shutter speed and white balance

Videos shot with the rear cameras are detailed and quite stable too, thanks to the four axis optical image stabilisation

Very good quality audio output via earphones (and the bundled pair of earphones are surprisingly good too)

Battery life is quite fantastic - you will get through a 12-hour day with about 40 percent left at the end, which is quite impressive - overall among flagship phones, the Vivo Nex takes the top end of the battery life ratings

Fast charging support is there too - the huge fast charger that Vivo includes in the box takes the phone from zero to about 50 percent in 40-45 minutes

2-minute Review [Negatives]

The shutter speed on the camera could have been slightly better - it's decent but not the best - it can sometimes get in the way when you're looking to take a quick shot, or clicking a moving subject

Although for a phone with a 6.6 inch screen, the Vivo Nex is relatively manageable, but weighing in at 199g, the Vivo Nex is quite a hefty phone, bordering on phablet territory - it's also a bit too wide and tall to be used comfortably with one hand - in fact, it can be slightly cumbersome to use even with both hands - make no mistake, you will certainly be compromising on some ergonomics to compensate for that large, beautiful display

The rear is pretty slippery too - you will want to use a case

The fingerprint sensor is integrated into the display glass like the Oppo Find X, and it works well enough, but just like the Find X, it is not in the same league as the physical ones we have become used to - it will works well 8 out of 10 times on average, but when it doesn't, the novelty turns into an irritant, and you will have to use a pattern/pin to unlock the phone (there is no face recognition either)

Vivo's FunTouch UI might be feature packed, but it also tends to be rather cluttered, and occasionally unstable (you will experience app crashes now and then) which is a letdown - it is probably the biggest thing that stops the Nex from being a strong recommendation - you can liken the experience to climbing aboard a fancy, futuristic alien spaceship, only to quickly discover your inability to operate it properly and likely quickly crashing into a tree

While the front camera has that fancy, eye-catching camera mechanism, when it pops out, on the imaging front, it's average, considering the price bracket - it has a tendency to overexpose shots, and images taken at night look very soft and have a fair bit of noise

Given the additional moving parts, there is also the question of long-term durability - while the mechanism feels quite solid and does not wobble in the slightest, you cannot know for sure how well it will stand up to regular use and abuse - there is also the risk of how badly this phone could get damaged if it falls with the camera module extended

Another new tech that Vivo had to adopt to create the bezel less design is Screen SoundCasting, which does away with the earpiece, and has a motor that vibrates the display glass itself - the technology is definitely impressive, and mostly works just fine, but can sometimes be iffy, with voices coming across as muffled and indistinct

The single loudspeaker gets reasonably loud but is somewhat shrill and tinny, which is a letdown in this price bracket

Unlike most other flagships, the Vivo Nex is also not water or dust proof

On the whole, the Vivo Nex is an immensely desirable, but ultimately frustrating device - it is a smartphone from the future which is gorgeous, immensely powerful, and loaded with impressive technologies - the OLED screen is superb, the rear camera is competent, and battery life is impressive - however, the software has niggles, the fingerprint scanner is unreliable, waterproofing is missing, and the cameras while good are not the best of the pack - for now, for most users, flagship offerings from the likes of Apple, OnePlus, and Samsung will be a bit more polished and easier to live with